


Arlo

by ultraviolet33



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Major Original Character(s), Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-10 19:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7857697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultraviolet33/pseuds/ultraviolet33
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the beginning of season 2, after the dropship explosion, Bellamy is 'saved' from attacking grounders by a young girl called Arlo. He knows little about her, yet after time the pair form an unlikely friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The 48 (Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> Just some random OC I thought up, decided to write a fic about her. I promise its better than my lame summary. Hope you like it!

Bellamy's eyes fluttered open. He saw trees above him, as well as the sun, the sudden change in brightness burning his eyes so badly he clamped them shut again. His head hurt. He could feel a sharp pain searing through his left leg.

More importantly, he was moving. It felt as if he was on horseback. He rubbed his eyes and hazarded opening them again. This time, he squinted for a while and let them adjust to the sunlight. Immediately he confirmed his previous suspicions; he was laying, albeit quite uncomfortably, on the back of a horse. He craned his neck and looked past the animal's head.

The horse was being led through the forest by a young grounder; grounder being a loose description. This person looked nothing like any grounder Bellamy had ever seen. They were wearing a black jacket not unlike the ones from the Ark, and pants Bellamy recognized as jeans. That was strange. People didn't wear jeans anymore, they were from before the nukes. Upon noticing this person had a bow and many arrows strapped to their back, Bellamy concluded they were no friend of his.

He immediately tried to push himself off the horse onto his feet. He failed, instead slipping off its back and falling directly onto his sore leg. Unconsciously he cried out in pain, gritting his teeth and screwing his eyes shut.

"Jesus, take it easy!"

Bellamy's eyes flew open and locked onto those of the 'grounder'. He saw now it was a teenage girl, no older than sixteen. She had long brown hair and a freckled face, on which she sported a rather petulant expression. She stopped the horse and walked over to Bellamy, who immediately tried to stand up and move away. Pain rose from his leg and he fell down again.

"God, stop it, you're just making it worse, here -" The grounder girl reached out to grab Bellamy's arm. He dragged himself away from her. Anger spread across her face. "Would you cut it out?! I'm trying to help you!"

Bellamy examined her. He didn't trust her - mind, he didn't trust most people, but there was something about this kid's behavior that made him uneasy. He held up a hand to ward her away.

"I can get up myself, thanks," he responded finally, in a hoarse voice. The girl watched for a moment as he struggled in vain to pull himself onto his feet. Gritting his teeth together, he continued to rise and fall as the stranger turned her back and headed off towards her horse.

"Okay. Good luck with that," she said flatly.

A great deal of time passed before Bellamy finally relented and discontinued his unsuccessful attempts at escape. He started to wonder how long he'd been out for. They were in a part of the forest he did not recognize. The strange grounder kid hadn't laid an eye on him since he'd rejected her help and was instead busying herself with some book she'd pulled from her coat. He studied her while she was preoccupied, but still her appearance gave him no clues. Where was this kid from? What did she want from him? Where were the others?

The girl noticed Bellamy had stopped struggling and, without looking up from her book, called over to him.

"Are you quite done, Bellamy? Cause it's going to get dark soon and I'd rather not be travelling in nightfall. Especially not accompanied by the likes of you."

"How do you know my name?" Bellamy instantly replied, weariness creeping up on him once more.

The girl turned and stared at him for a moment, then shrugged.

"I know many things."

"Well, what the hell's that supposed to mean?"

The girl simply ignored him and lead the horse over to where he sat. She held out her hand for him. He looked at it, then at her face. She was staring down at him impatiently. He inhaled sharply and grabbed on to it. She helped pull Bellamy onto his feet and tried to guide him onto the horse.

"No, no, just get me a stick to lean on. I'll be fine walking."

"That sounds like a terrible idea. You'll be too slow. Get on the horse." The girl stared Bellamy down. He refused to move. She refused also. Eventually, too tired to protest any longer, Bellamy pulled himself onto the horse's back, making it clear he need not be assisted. She looked up at him, eyebrows raised.

"Brave warrior." Bellamy elected to ignore that condescending remark. She took hold of the horse's reigns and soon they were moving again. "I'd say your leg's broken in two places. Probably three, now that you've deliberately fallen off a horse and spent a good half hour trying to heave yourself into a standing position."

"How do you know my name?" Bellamy repeated. He tried to make his voice as stern as possible. He was not about to be pushed around by a teenage girl, grounder or not. "Where are my friends? Where are you taking me?"

The girl peered over her shoulder at him, frowning. "Are you always this annoying?"

"Tell me what I want to know and I won't need to be."

"Fine," she responded, her voice taut. "I know your name because I've been watching you and your people for quite some time. Also Lincoln told me a few things."

"You know Lincoln?" Bellamy shot up at the mention of someone familiar.

"Briefly," the girl continued dismissively. "As for your friend, I'm taking you to him now."

"Finn? Is he alright?"

"What?" The girl stopped momentarily, giving Bellamy a questioning look. "Not the boy Finn, no. Another of your friends. Sam, or something, I think."

"Who?" Bellamy frowned at her. He didn't know any Sams. If Finn wasn't with them, where was he? They were separated when a grounder had chased them through the tunnels.

"I don't know, Stanley or Stewart or something like that," said the girl irritably, turning back to look ahead of them.

"Do you mean Sterling?" Bellamy surmised, thinking of any delinquent with a name similar to 'Stanley'.

"Yes!" The girl exclaimed. Bellamy was taken aback by her sudden show of any emotion but querulousness. "That's the one. Sterling."

"I'm confused," Bellamy began. "Where did you find Sterling? We were nowhere near each other. What was he doing? Why wasn't he in the dropship?"

"I don't know what he was doing, Bellamy. You were on the ground in a bad shape when he stumbled across you. A surviving warrior must've attacked you; I'm not sure, I wasn't there when it happened. Anyway, next thing another gona appeared out of nowhere and started beating the living daylights out of the boy. I knew if there was one surviving warrior there'd be more to follow, so I got your friend out of there before he got himself killed."

"And you just left me behind?"

"Oh, well I'm sorry, a minute ago you wanted nothing to do with me," she snapped in response. "Besides, I could only take one of you at a time and, to be frank, you were in a better state to take care of yourself than he was."

"That bad?" Bellamy asked, his voice laden with concern.

"Honestly?" The girl responded. Her voice was gentle all of a sudden. "I think he's dying."

Bellamy didn't respond. Too many of them had died already.

"What about Finn?" He added, somewhat urgently. "Have you seen him?"

The girl inhaled sharply. Bellamy felt a pang of distress.

"Unfortunately," she began gravely, "the boy Finn has been taken."

"What? What do you mean taken?"

"Taken, captured, his freedom compromised. I believe you're familiar with Tristan? Well, the brute of a man found Finn and another of your people, and he's taken them to see the Commander."

"What do they want Finn for?"

"It's not Finn they want," said the girl lazily, seemingly tiring of Bellamy's ruthless questioning. "It could've been anyone."

"What do they want?" Bellamy repeated firmly.

"He..." The girl gazed solemnly over her shoulder at Bellamy. It was a look that worried him deeply; one which said, 'you don't really want to know'. He did, though, so he raised his eyebrows at her expectantly. She relented. "He is to answer for the crimes of your people."

"Oh God," Bellamy whispered. He dropped his head. They were going to kill Finn for something he was only ever adverse to. "I have to go help him."

"No you don't, Bellamy. You're not helping anyone in that state," the girl retorted in a warning tone. " And if you fall off that horse again I swear to God I will leave you in a ditch to die. Besides," she continued ominously. "Why do you always have to be the one to save everyone else? Why don't you take care of yourself and let someone else be hero for a change?"

"Kid, you can't just ignore problems until someone else solves them for you," Bellamy condemned. He didn't move, though. He knew if he fell off the horse again he wouldn't be going anywhere, and as much as he hated to say it, the kid was right. That wouldn't help anyone. "Also, if you're going to insist on using my name, you have to tell me yours."

"Yeah? Says who?"

"Says me!" Bellamy yelled. He was tired of this kid's attitude. She scoffed, much to his annoyance.

"Fine, keep your hair on, Jesus," she muttered. "It's Arlo."

"Arlo," Bellamy repeated in consideration.

"Yeah. A-r-l-o. Arlo," she said sharply. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"No," Bellamy hesitated. "It's just not a grounder sounding name, that's all."

"I'm not sure who 'grounders' are," said Arlo. "But I guess that means I'm not one of them."

"'Grounders' is what we call the people who were already on Earth when we came down," said Bellamy absently. He hadn't really thought that his people were the only ones who called them 'grounders'. It was a strange notion.

They had been moving for a while now and Bellamy hoped it wouldn't take much longer. The horse was uncomfortable and his head was killing him. He wanted to ask where this kid was taking him that was so far away.

"Trikru?"

"What?" Bellamy shifted his gaze, thinking he'd misheard. He hadn't been paying attention.

"These grounder people, they're called Trikru. The Woods Clan."

Bellamy considered the name. He'd rather keep saying grounders. That was what he knew them to be.

"I hope you realize I'm not going to just forget about Finn," said Bellamy after a while. "Broken leg or not, I'm not letting him get killed by the grounders."

"Alright, don't be so dramatic. No-one's dying," Arlo replied. "It'll take days for Tristan to get to the commander. There's still time."

"What if it's not enough time? Listen, kid, I don't know where you're taking me, but..." Bellamy asserted. He considered his options. They were few and far between. "Okay. You can take me to Sterling, but then you have to go back. Tell Clarke the grounders have Finn and she'll find him."

Arlo said nothing. Bellamy was beginning to wish she'd just left him to the grounders. At least then he'd know what he was dealing with.

"Did you hear me, Arlo?"

"Clarke's not really..." she retaliated. "She can't help your friend."

"God, no," Bellamy croaked. A thousand possibilities ran through his mind; something had gone wrong in the explosion, there were enough surviving grounders to continue their assault...

"No, they're not dead, if that's what you're thinking," Arlo remarked, clearly noticing Bellamy's distress. "Just... absent."

"The grounders have them too? How many? Where are they taking them?"

"Not Trikru," said Arlo rather seriously as she pulled the horse to a stop. She waved her arms, gesturing to the scene in front of them. "Here we are!"

Bellamy sat up straight and looked in the direction of Arlo's motioning. It was a cave. There was nothing extraordinary about it, either. It looked just like every other cave he'd seen on the ground. He felt a sudden bite of anger.

"We walked all this time, for a cave! You couldn't have just taken us to a cave, I don't know, a few hours closer to the dropship?!"

Arlo, who had been tying the horse to a nearby tree, spun around and stared him straight in the eye. She looked dark.

"I wasn't going to just dump a defenseless, comatose boy in any old cave where a Trikru warrior could easily stumble across him in my absence!" She spat in response. "God you're a sour puss sometimes! What is your problem?"

Bellamy pursed his lips together. He tried not to let his embarrassment show.

"I see your point."

Arlo said nothing. She walked around to the horse's side and unstrapped a bag that was tied to the animal. After swinging it onto her back, she stared up at Bellamy.

"Are you going to be a hero and get down by yourself?"

Bellamy looked down at her. Her face was expressionless. He sighed and swung his good leg around. He was too tired to refuse her help. He held out his arms and she helped hoist him off the horse onto the ground. She held his arm as he limped into the cave.

Inside was just as unimpressive as outside; the cave was small, there were a few rocks to sit on and a candle or two, but not much else. Arlo had laid Sterling down on a sheet at the back. After guiding Bellamy onto one of the large rocks, Arlo went over to him and put her hand on his forehead.

"No change. He's still alive, though," she informed.

"That's always a positive," Bellamy replied. Arlo looked over to him and smiled, only slightly. He smiled back.

"We better fix up that leg," Arlo walked over to Bellamy and knelt down beside him. She opened the bag and pulled out a blanket of some sort, placing them onto the ground next to her. Without warning, she reached out and put her hand on Bellamy's leg.

"Um, ow," he said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry," Arlo responded, removing her hand and assessing his leg thoughtfully. It was an unconvincing apology. After some deliberation, she stood up and turned to the cave entrance. "I'll be right back."

A few minutes passed and she returned with an armful of various sticks and branches. She set them down next to Bellamy and pulled a long, flat branch from the pile.

"I'll need to straighten your leg and strap it to this stick, like a sort of splint," she said without looking up. "It'll hurt. A lot."

"Just do it," Bellamy replied. Without a moment's warning, Arlo grabbed his leg and pulled it straight. Bellamy cried out in pain. She picked up the blanket and wrapped it haphazardly around his leg. Once she was finished she stood up and looked down at it with her arms crossed.

"That should do it, I reckon," she said.

Bellamy looked down at her handiwork. The old, frayed blanket was loose in places and the stick was too long, meaning he wouldn't be able to bend his leg at all. He understood the girl wasn't a doctor, so he withheld any criticism.

"Yeah," he began, "that should do it."


	2. The 48 (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! I was going to make each chapter coincide to an episode, but they were too long so I gave up on that. Enjoy!

"You hungry?" Without waiting for a reply, Arlo passed Bellamy something flat, yellow and doughy.

Night had long since fallen and the few candles were burning low. It was a cold night, but Bellamy hardly noticed, as he was used to it by now. It didn't seem to bother Arlo much either. Bellamy wondered how often she slept in caves like this one.

Bellamy stared down at the thing she had given him.

"It's just corn bread," said Arlo, noticing Bellamy's hesitance. Bellamy didn't respond. "You are familiar with bread?" She added with consideration.

"Yes, I know what bread is."

"Just checking."

Bellamy smiled inwardly as he took above out of the bread. It was like the more time he spent with this kid the weirder she became. The bread was an unfamiliar taste. He couldn't remember if he'd ever eaten corn before.

"Why are you helping me?" He asked finally.

"Because you need it," Arlo responded simply.

"Yeah, sure. Why are you really helping me?"

Arlo gave him a look that was both challenging and considerate.

"Not everyone has an ulterior motive, Bellamy," she said.

"Well, I've learnt by now that if something seems too good to be true, it usually is," he replied in a serious tone.

"Not this time," Arlo countered. "You should be thanking you're lucky stars I've just got nothing better to do right now."

Bellamy put his hands together and tapped them on his forehead. He couldn't decide how to feel about this kid.

"Who are you?"

"No-one of great significance, I assure you," said Arlo, smiling wryly. Bellamy frowned.

"Okay, where are you from? Are you a Trikru?" he retorted, remembering what she had told him about the 'grounders' real name earlier in the day.

"I'm not from anywhere," she said flippantly, taking a bite out of her bread. "And it's not 'a Trikru'. Trikru is the clan name, so it would be 'are you from Trikru'."

"Everyone has a place where they're from, kid."

"Not me. Not anymore."

Bellamy's eyes remained level with Arlo's. Her expression was thoroughly sincere; nothing about this conversation indicated she was lying, yet he wondered why she was being so vague about herself. It was as if she had nothing to hide, but also did at the same time.

"Well," Bellamy began. He couldn't understand this girl. "Who are your people?"

"I am my people."

Tearing her eyes away from his, Arlo stood up and walked away from Bellamy, crouching on the other side of the cave next to Sterling. The resentful note in her tone made Bellamy cringe. She was making it crystal clear she no longer wanted to discuss this topic.

Bellamy sighed. He wanted to know more about this kid, but he didn't want to push her. He figured it'd be better if they got along.

"Earlier you said the grounders didn't take my friends. Do you know who did?"

Arlo lifted her head, but did not turn to look at him. "I'm not certain, but I have my theories."

Bellamy said nothing, indicating he was waiting for her to continue.

"The mountain men," she said, still with her back turned. "And before you ask, I don't know what the mountain men would want with your people, but I'm afraid I know enough about them to say it's probably not good."

Bellamy decided if she said she didn't know he'd believe her, so stopped asking her about his friends. His concern did not ease, however. They sat in silence for some time while Bellamy finished his food. Still wanting to know more about Arlo, Bellamy tried asking questions that were less sensitive.

"Do you live with Trikru?" He asked. Arlo finally turned around to look at him, her eyes narrowed in consideration. She sighed and walked back over to the rock she'd been sitting on earlier.

"I wouldn't be welcome there even if I wanted to," she answered matter-of-factly, sitting down opposite him.

"Why wouldn't you be welcome?" Bellamy replied, knowing he had been asking far too many questions recently.

"Let's just say," Arlo began, staring down at her hands before bringing them up to meet Bellamy's with a sombre expression. "I have a bad reputation."

Bellamy frowned. He didn't understand what that meant. Why would she have a reputation? They looked at each other for a moment, before Arlo inhaled sharply and turned to the candle beside her.

"We'd better get some rest, if you want to wake early tomorrow and find this boy Finn."

With that, she blew the candle out.

 

Arlo woke early the next morning, partially relieved to see Bellamy still fast asleep. He asked too many questions. Used to her own company, she couldn't understand why he never stopped talking.

After checking the comatose boy - Sam? She could never remember - and walking down to the creek for some water, Arlo decided she should probably wake Bellamy. It was long past sunrise and if he so desperately wanted to rescue this Finn, she'd like to get it over with sooner rather than later. Especially if they had to go to TonDC to do it.

"Bellamy," she said, poking his shoulder with a twig, "get up."

He stirred, but did not wake. Arlo frowned and kicked his shoulder with her foot.

"Bellamy, get up!"

"What?! Wh-" Bellamy woke with a start. It took him a short while to get his bearings, and apparently remember what he was doing in this cave. He looked up at Arlo lazily, rubbing his eyes and stretching. "How long was I asleep?" He asked groggily.

Arlo handed him some water in a very old, rusted tin can.

"Longer than I'd like." She picked up her bag and started rounding up the possessions she had scattered across the cave. "We better leave soon if you want to get to your friend in time."

"Yeah, okay," Bellamy replied. He seemed disbelieving of the fact she was actually going to help him with that.

Arlo straightened up, having packed her things, and looked at Bellamy seriously.

"We have two options," she said. "We can conclude young Sam is a lost cause and leave without him, or we can cart an unconscious boy about the countryside with us throughout our crusade."

"We're not leaving him here, Arlo," Bellamy responded, glancing at her wearily. "You don't abandon your friends." After some thought, he added, "and his name is Sterling."

"I've never spoken a word to that boy in my life, I'd hardly say we're friends," Arlo countered stoically. "He could be brain dead and we wouldn't know the difference."

"He could be," Bellamy simply replied, limping over to where Sterling lay. He began struggling to bend down beside him when Arlo sighed, in an overly dramatic manner, and marched over to stand beside him.

"Don't be stupid," she hissed, bending down to grab Sterling's arm roughly.

"Be gentle," Bellamy snapped.

"Why? He can't feel it, he's dead to the world!"

The arguing continued as they struggled to lift Sterling out and onto the horse.

 

They set off soon after, travelling far slower than Arlo would prefer, due to Bellamy's leg. They walked in silence for a while, Arlo thinking that they'd better make it by nightfall because she only packed enough food for herself, and together the pair had eaten it all yesterday.

"So, how long have you been spying on us for?"

"Since the day you fell from the sky. I saw your spaceship land and thought, 'wow, they came from outer space, I must go see them!' Lincoln and I had bets on how long you'd last. I took one look at your motley group and said, 'a month, and not one minute more'. I lost."

Bellamy smiled widely, looking down at the girl. He felt like he hadn't smiled in a very long time.

"Nice to know I exceed your expectations."

"More with each passing day," said Arlo, looking at Bellamy with a teasing smirk. "While we're on this topic, I'd just like to say I really loved the slicked-back hair you sported when you first came down. That really was a special kind of something."

"Shut up," Bellamy responded playfully. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"TonDC. It's sort of like the capital of the Trikru villages," Arlo informed. "If Tristan took your friend anywhere, that'll be it."

Bellamy nodded. Arlo watched him as he stared at Sterling, concern washing over his face. He really was something else; grumpy and caring and warm-hearted and tormented all at the same time.

"What was space like?" Arlo asked after a while.

Bellamy thought the question over for a moment.

"Pretty terrible, to be honest. Not for everyone; if you were rich and educated and privileged it would've been great, but if you weren't, you had to master the art of just scraping by. My family was poor. We never had very much. I missed out on most of my childhood taking care of Octavia and my mother."

"Why did you miss out on a childhood because of them?"

"To preserve oxygen and resources, it was illegal to have more than one child on the Ark. We had to hide Octavia, otherwise my mother would've been killed for having the both of us." He looked away before adding, "Octavia's tough, though. We managed fine."

Arlo considered this. She didn't know how to feel about it. One the one hand, it was awful and completely barbaric. However, she knew that everyone simply does what they must to survive.

Bellamy turned to face her.

"What about you? Any siblings?" He asked. His voice was gentle, like Arlo was a wild animal and he was afraid he might scare her off.

Arlo gazed at him earnestly. He answered all of her questions, so she figured it only proper she do the same. Besides, it's not like she really cared that much anyway.

"I had two older brothers, Xavier and Bray. Bray was gentle and kind; he was different to everyone else, he liked drawing and nature. He was softly spoken and always looked down when he walked, treading gently on the earth. He used to take me out to the fields near our village where the deer grazed, to see the fawns. When I was young I would wail if ever we had to eat deer. It made my father so angry he forbade Bray from ever taking me there again. Then, my father told me sometimes we had to kill others if it allowed us to live." Arlo stared at the ground as she spoke. There was a sadness in her voice that moved Bellamy. It was a haunting kind of sadness that resided deep within a person. "Xavier was nothing like Bray. He was gruff and stone-cold. He taught me to shoot things and fight people. He was exactly like my father. He lacked moral, and the basic respect for life that made Bray who he was. Compared to Xavier, father didn't much like Bray or I. No bother, we didn't much like him either." Arlo and Bellamy looked at each other. Whatever sadness had been present earlier was all but gone. "But he's dead now, so I shouldn't say that."

"I'm sorry," Bellamy said softly.

"What for? You didn't kill them."

Bellamy frowned in confusion. That was an unusual response. "Maybe not, but I'm sorry all the same."


End file.
